A Forum for Orthodox Jewish thought on Halacha, Hashkafa, and the social issues of our time.

Sunday, April 27, 2014

What a Jerk!

81 year old Sterling and his mistress, V. Stiviano

Normally I would not comment
on racist remarks by the owner of a basketball team. There are a lot of racists
in the world and I don’t need to condemn the obvious.

But when that owner is Jewish, my ears perk up. When anyone Jewish does anything disgusting, it reflects on all of us. And thus has the potential to be a Chilul HaShem!

I have no
tolerance for racism of any kind. And certainly no Jew should. Even a Jew that
is not religious. I think it is safe to say that Donald Sterling is not
religious. Nor does he seem to have any religious values. Nevertheless any Jew
who knows even a smidgen about the Holocaust should understand what racism is.

The fact is that he is a Jew by birth. He cannot get out of
that no matter how much he tries. And try he did. First by adding the name Sterling
to his family name of Tokowitz.

He then went a step further by naming one of his children
Chris. (What a great name for a Jew.) Chris is short for Christopher - a derivation
of the Greek term meaning "bearing Christ" or
carrying Christ in your heart.

That this 81 year old married man has a girlfriend young
enough to be his granddaughter just adds to his lack of any sense of propriety.

Last week he made racist comments that were recorded. He was
unaware of that and has since denied that he is in any way racist. (Sure! And I
am Henry the 8th).

Sterling, who owns
the LA Clippers told his girlfriend the following. From the LA Times:

"It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that
you're associating with black people," Sterling allegedly says, later
adding, "I'm just saying, in your … Instagrams, you don't have to have
yourself with, walking with black people.

"Don't put him on an Instagram for the world to have to
see so they have to call me. And don't bring him to my games."

I guess he thinks his billions makes him immune to criticism.
But billions cannot buy honor. It cannot buy integrity. And it cannot buy respectability. This fellow…
with all his billions is a disgusting individual. He ought to be condemned by
all good people. If I could throw him out of Judaism, I would… Not that it
would bother him. He’d probably consider that a prize!

Cool to be Jewish? Not this guy! That may be the only
mitigating factor about this Chilul HaShem. That he in no way represents
anything Jewish.

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About Me

My outlook on Judaism is based mostly on the teachings of my primary Rebbe, Rabbi Aaron Soloveichik from whom I received my rabbinic ordination. It is also based on a search for spiritual truth. Among the various sources that put me on the right path, two great philosophic works stand out: “Halakhic Man” and “Lonely Man of Faith” authored by the pre-eminent Jewish philosopher and theologian, Rabbi, Dr. Joseph B. Soloveitchik. Of great significance is Rabbi, Dr. Norman Lamm's conceptualization and models of Torah U’Mada and Dr. Eliezer Berkovits who introduced me to the world of philosophic thought. Among my early influences were two pioneers of American Elementary Torah Chinuch, Rabbis Shmuel Kaufman and Yaakov Levi. The Yeshivos I attended were Yeshivas Telshe for early high school and more significantly, the Hebrew Theological College where for a period of ten years, my Rebbeim included such great Rabbinic figures as Rabbis Mordechai Rogov, Shmaryahu Meltzer, Yaakov Perlow, Herzl Kaplan, and Selig Starr. I also attended Roosevelt University where I received my Bachelors Degree - majoring in Psychology.